By Joel H. Cohen
NEW YORK — Responding to some Jewish religious concerns that photographs of women constitute immodesty, Adam’s Apple Electronics has developed a high-tech, gender-sensitive camera that cannot photograph females.
The sophisticated new device has a tiny, built-in sensor that, as soon as it detects the two X chromosomes that make females female, automatically closes the shutter.
A company spokesperson (male) said that the camera, known as the DoubleX-clude and a lower-priced version known as the In-stag-matic, will be especially welcome in ultra-Orthodox Jewish circles, including such newspapers as HaMevaser, which, for reasons of what it considers religious impropriety, seldom if ever prints images of women
The research and development process began last year after that newspaper, citing what it regarded as immodesty, cropped out Germany’s Angela Merkel and other women from a front-page, widely distributed photo of a Paris solidarity procession of world leaders marching against terrorism after the Charlie Hebdo attack.
The spokesman said the sophisticated new cameras would also answer modesty concerns with practical application at such family simchas as a wedding, sheva brachas or a (weekday) baby-naming, although that would mean there would be no photographic record of brides or infant girls “But,” he added, “ultraOrthodox families would be understanding and appreciative” of the missing photos of the females.
Suggested list prices for the two versions of the camera are $1,800 and $1,200, respectively, which the spokesman said are offset by there being no need for PhotoShop or cropping-out of women in scenes shot by conventional cameras.
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San Diego Jewish World reminds readers who are new to this column that it is all in fun, and nothing above should be taken seriously. Cohen is a freelance writer based in New York. Comments intended for publication in the space below MUST be accompanied by the letter writer’s first and last name and by his/ her city and state of residence (city and country for those outside the United States.)